Change is the end result of all true learning.

“Change is the end result of all true learning.”
― Leo Buscaglia

future

Isn’t that the truth? What a beautiful quote and great start to my week, and hopefully yours. Change is one of those things one loves and hates at the same time. I for one, usually have a tougher time with change than most. I like my set schedule, my routine, knowing what comes tomorrow. Lately I have been thinking about it though. Is that smart? Or do I just live my life without actually living it. It’s like a well oiled machine, it functions and runs but to what end? Where is it taking me, or rather, where am I taking myself? What have I done so far in this life and what do I really want to achieve? A friend asked me some tough questions Friday night. When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing that brings you into thought? When you go to sleep, what are you pondering? When you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep, what do you do? What would you do for free just so you could

Smile – Today Is A Good Day

Smile because you can

How to Win Friends and Influence People

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

It’s been a long long time since I have read this book. I’ve seen it pop up more than once recently and I think it’s great. If you are in need of a book that will change your life and the way you see the world this is for you. There is a joke that I am the cranky German, especially before

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Cicero

Gravitation is …

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.
Albert Einstein

Wedding in Austin

Alice Herz-Sommer – The Lady in Number 6

A Story about Survival, Love, Passion and Music

Alice Herz-Sommer

I hope you have tissues ready. I really do. I found this video a while back and have been watching it repeatedly for the last week. Growing up in Germany, you learn about the war, the concentrations camps, you read books, you discuss, you learn, you visit concentration camps, you watch videos, you learn the smell of death – because it still lingers, you can feel death and despair, you learn how heavy these places feel. But you can never truly know what it’s like. You can only imagine. You’ll never truly understand as a kid, I didn’t. I knew it was horrible, I felt horrible, I didn’t understand why. But watching Alice, now that I am a grown up, I am moved by her story, it put everything in perspective. It changed the way I perceived what happened.

Unfortunately the world lost a wonderful and inspiring lady who lived to be

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I read this quote today and it made so much sense to me! We often walk blindly through life and I have written about this more than once. Beauty is all around us, on a dark day, a beautiful day, a rainy day even. It also reminded me of a picture I took a while back. Check out this beauty!

Eyes are truly a window to the soul! Intense, yet soft, loving but also piercing.

What have you seen lately that made you appreciate the beauty around you?

The Legacy I’ll Leave My Children

It was my daughters 11th birthday last Saturday and it didn’t hit me until today, when I read a post about leaving your legacy by the lovely ladies from Ask Ajna, how fast time has gone by. It feels like it was yesterday (yes, so much cliché) when I found out I was pregnant, gave birth 9 months later and even when she took her first steps. While it feels like yesterday, it has been 11 years and in those 11 years we have been through ups and downs in life. We have moved more than once and across continents too! We have been through deployments, divorce and the mental illness of family members. We have been through thick and thin and today it hit me. We are past half of her childhood and I feel like I missed most of it.

She is a gifted child, is in the gifted program at school and tested

Beautiful Instruments Play Notes Right to the Heart

This beauty was used to play Ave Maria at the last wedding I was fortunate enough to photograph. A single instrument and wonderful person was all it took to silence a whole church initially. Within a minute most (including myself) had tears in their eyes.

Music speaks to the soul, it makes you feel more than words ever could.

Dirndl Time – Twenty something years ago in Germany

Throwback thursday…